Scottie Scheffler couldnt break US Open struggles…
All Scottie Scheffler may do was stare.
His second shot, out of the bunker, on the seventh gap Sunday had hit the inexperienced and, in basic Shinnecock Hills Golf Club model, did a U-turn, rolling back into the sand. Scheffler ended up bogeying the opening, and it marked the latest missed probability in a spherical full of them for Scheffler — turning a thirtieth birthday that may’ve been about a profession Grand Slam on Father’s Day into one that left him with what-ifs.
Plenty of the hype building forward of Sunday revolved around Scheffler and the run he may make while chasing Wyndham Clark. He’d appeared to have solved the course over the back 9 Saturday and may’ve been even nearer than the six strokes he trailed by at the start of the spherical. But Scheffler settled for 1 over Sunday and even for the event, ending in a tie for fourth — with J.T. Poston and Keith Mitchell — and 4 pictures behind Clark, who received his second U.S. Open in 4 years.
“I felt like I did enough to have a really good round,” Scheffler said. “It was just, man, I felt like I hit a lot of good putts that were really close to going in. Just wasn’t able to kind of hole those.”
Scottie Scheffler tees off from the second gap during the 126th U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. on Sunday, June 21, 2026. Heather Khalifa for NY Post
The crowd following Scheffler stored pulling for each of his pictures to hit fairways and greens while begging for Clark to end up in bunkers. There have been chants about his birthday, too. Fans needed the comeback. They needed the historical past.
But Scheffler’s struggles began on the first gap — when his second shot rolled off the inexperienced and his putt to save par missed — and continued on the seventh, when he misplaced the stroke he’d picked up with a birdie two holes prior. He moved back to 1 under with a birdie on the tenth, but he completed his spherical with a bogey and 4 consecutive pars.
So Scheffler’s bid for historical past turned a secondary storyline to Sam Burns’ bid for a historic comeback. He wasn’t the one threatening, actually, as Clark stumbled. This wasn’t as close a call as the U.S. Open in 2022, when he completed in a tie for second, one shot behind Matt Fitzpatrick, but it was winnable — particularly when Clark began collapsing.
Instead, Scheffler was left questioning about his first spherical — an space where he has struggled just lately — and his 72 from Thursday, as his bid for the profession milestone was put on maintain for at least one more yr.
Scottie Scheffler of the United States reacts after a putt on the twelfth inexperienced during the ultimate spherical of the 126th U.S. OPEN at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 21, 2026. Getty Images
“At the end of the day, I was trying to move my way up the leaderboard,” Scheffler said. “I’ve perception that if Wyndham shot even par today, I believed that I may catch him. It’s just a matter of executing the pictures.
“… I was close [Sunday], but not where it needed to be.”
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